----- DRM "Misunderstood" Authored by: PJ on Friday, July 28 2006 @ 11:26 PM EDT In your explaining it, you yourself say it's silly.
It would be silly if they used nonGPL code. Because they are using GPL code to do it, it's a bit worse than silly. And we are saying: Be silly with proprietary code, if you wish, but leave the GPL out of such tricks. Because the final result for the end user is their Tivo doesn't work, and for all practical purposes in the real world with normal people it means that the promise of the GPL is not fulfilled. We can't have a Tivo and the freedoms of the GPL simultaneously, because most of us don't know how to take the code and run it somewhere else. In short, our bottom line is we are cheated out of what we expected the GPL to provide and/or we are cheated out of the money we paid Tivo, because we have a Tivo box we can't use because we exercised rights the GPL gives us and now this company, making money from that very same code, has effectually shut down one of the basic freedoms of the GPL. The first principle of the GPL is equality of rights. We bought it, but now we can't modify and use it. And it's GPL? No. Not acceptable. Let them use proprietary code they write themselves and pay for if they want to pull tricks like that. Because the bottom line is they've found a loophole in the GPL, which is one reason why there is a new draft, and that loophole is going to be closed. I don't think anyone should wink at deliberate steps taken to water down the GPL. As I think you have seen here today on Groklaw, a lot of people care deeply about this issue, and most disagree with you. And that isn't going to change. So I hope you seriously consider all the comments today and give more thought to GPLv3, on behalf of the nonprogrammer end users like myself who love your work and would like to stick with the Linux kernel. Forget about that old argument between the two camps. That is so over. Instead please think more about end users, because we are never anybody's priority in the corporate world, which is one reason we walked away from proprietary software. And who are you writing your software for, if not us? ----- PJ, PJ (Pamela and Paul Jones), I have yet to see Linus' contract(s), but it must be obvious to everyone and his dog (unless both are total idiots) that Linus is writing (actually mostly merely assembling, as of late) software for a cartel of competitors engaging in predatory price-fixing conspiracy in violation of Sherman Act 1 (according to Wallace): OSDL. regards, alexander. _______________________________________________ gnu-misc-discuss mailing list gnu-misc-discuss@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnu-misc-discuss